Executive Summary

A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a want or need. The marketer needs to think through the five levels of the product: the core benefit, the basic product, the expected product, the augmented product, and the potential product. Marketers classify products on the basis of durability, tangibility, and use (consumer or industrial). Products may be differentiated by form, features, performance quality, conformance quality, durability, reliability, repairability, style, customization, and design. Service differentiators include ordering ease, delivery, installation, customer training, customer consulting, and maintenance and repair.

A product mix can be classified according to width, length, depth, and consistency, four dimensions for developing the marketing strategy and deciding which product lines to grow, maintain, harvest, and divest. Physical products must be packaged and labeled, may have well-designed packages, and may come with warranties and guarantees. The new-product development process consists of: idea generation, screening, concept development and testing, marketing strategy development, business analysis, product development, market testing, and commercialization. The adoption process—by which customers learn about new products, try them, and adopt or reject them—is influenced by multiple factors. Each product life-cycle stage (introduction, growth, maturity, and decline) calls for different marketing strategies.